Now, this isn’t just a focus on cheap initial savings, but more of a long term consideration of the ongoing running costs of the vehicle. Cars with fuel consumption of over 70mpg used to be the stuff of dreams, although not very exciting ones, but now we see them all around us everyday, on a whole range of vehicles from a number of manufacturers.

Oh, and we must not forget that lower fuel consumption usually relates to lower CO₂ emissions. This, in return, means that road tax costs and company car tax will be reduced. Road tax on a car that produces less than 100 g/km is completely free, so you can be safe in the knowledge that your carbon footprint has been reduced AND you’re spending less and less. I’m going to count that as a win? Yes?

Trying to whittle down the shear amount of great eco-friendly cars to just 5 wasn’t an easy task, not in the slightest, but below is the list I managed to come up with. So here we go…

Volkswagen Golf BlueMotion

The Golf BlueMotion comes equipped with a superbly refined and upmarket interior, with plenty of space both in the front and the rear. This model shares many features as the old model but that’s no bad thing. The old model was brilliant so surely this model should be as good, if not better? Makes sense to me.

The excellent noise insulation makes the Golf feel even more solid and well built than before and ensure that it leads the way in sophistication among small hatchbacks.

The BlueMotion edition is available on most styles of golf, the first edition is a 1.6 TDI which emits just 99 g/km of CO₂ and averages around 74 mpg. Thus making it tax free, on top of the saving you’re already making with better fuel economy. Starting off at £17,780, the Volkswagen Golf BlueMotion is not to be overlooked when looking for a new car.

Toyota Prius T3

The Toyota Prius is one of the more established members of the green segment of the market, and is capable of racking up 716 miles on just one tank of juice, not bad eh?

The mid-size hatchback has a wide variety of technology that allows it to deliver such impressive statistics, including three possible driving modes, totally dependant on your mood.

The Prius has plenty of passenger room and comes very well equipped as standard. The engine in the 1.8 VVTi T3 Hybrid CVT auto is very responsive and can produce up to 72 mpg as well as only emitting 89 g/km CO_2, making it completely free on the road tax front.

A real contender in the green car market and comes at a price of £19,855 for the standard model.

Ford Fiesta Econetic

It would be hard to put together any sort of top five without including this supermini heavyweight, especially with the addition of the low consumption, low emissions Fiesta Econetic.

The 1.6 litre TDI offers a powerful drive as well as being cleverly economical and extremely reliable. The Fiesta has been around for 30 years and it’s not hard to see how, especially when you add fuel economy to the growing list of strengths.

The Fiesta is a small car but with big ideas. As well as being good to drive and stylish, it has borrowed many innovations from larger cars in the Ford range, such as keyless entry, Bluetooth hands-free compatibility and a system to prevent mis-fueling. It also comes with a knee airbag as standard, as well as being able to play MP3s from a USB stick through the stereo. It is cheaper to buy and costs less than the older model, and with the Econetic engine, will cost you nothing to tax. Starting price for the Econetic Fiesta is £13,495.

Citroen DS3

The DS3 signals a return to a more exclusive range for Citroen, signified by the DS tag. The majority of DS3s will not fall below the 100 g/km benchmark, but the 1.6 HDI 90bhp engine variant manages to just sneak under at 99g/km.

The DS3 is the first in a range of very different Citroen models that put the emphasis on style and personality, alongside strong performance and driver appeal.

It is a great car to drive with tremendous composure in corners and responsive steering, while the ride remains forgiving. As well as this, it is also very well built – something that can’t be said for all Citroens – with a genuine luxury feel to the interior and impressive refinement at higher speeds. Overall, this is the best car Citroen has made for a long time, in my humble opinion.

Often compared to the Mini, the DS3 is both a good looking car with hot hatch desires, and economical. As you may expect, it isn’t as cheap as some of the other contenders, but certainly not the most expensive either. The starting price for this vehicle is £13,700.

Smart ForTwo CDi

Thanks to its characteristic shape and tiny size, the Smart Fortwo is instantly recognisable. This is the second generation of the ForTwo but the styling is subtly being changed and this model comes with more angular headlights than the last – the most notable change.

Just like its predecessor, it is great fun to drive in and around town centres and quite quick away from the lights. On top of this, it is still possible to park, head first, into parallel spaces thanks to it being so small.

The Smart ForTwo normally ranks pretty highly when it comes to being economical, however not when you take into consideration that it is only a two seater. What’s that got to do with anything? I hear you asking, well… its lighter and can’t carry as much weight, thus making it a lot easier to drive more miles to the gallon.

That being said, the new Smart car is very cheap to run with no road tax at all thanks to its low emissions, being only 85g/km. It can also manage 83mpg. All this can be yours for only £8,780.

About the Author

Ant Bradshaw is currently working for AskAprice.com which can provide you with great information on a vast range of manufacturers. Askaprice.com can also provide with you free and competitive Economical Car Quotes.

Not really a big request considering they’re giving you a lifetime warranty on a car now is it?

The Vauxhall lifetime warranty will apply to the first owner of any Vauxhall car registered from August 1st 2010. The warranty coverage continues through the life of the car up until it reaches 100,000 miles. Managing Director of Vauxhall Motors, Duncan Aldred, said “With the Vauxhall Lifetime Warranty, we are making a strong statement of confidence in the quality of our products and a clear intent to provide the very best customer service in the UK.”

This is the latest advance from the UK’s oldest surviving car maker, who saw their 107th anniversary in 2010. Since 2006, Vauxhall Motors have been having a great time, producing world class cars, including the Agila, Corsa, Astra and the European Car of the Year winning Insignia.

So, how does this warranty work? Well in year 1, Vauxhall offer an unlimited mileage manufacturer’s warranty with qualifying repairs at no extra cost. Years 2 and 3 see the warranty extended up to a maximum mileage of 60,000 miles. Then, after the 3 years, comes the lifetime part… Vauxhall will cover the car under the manufacturers warranty until the end of car’s life, or up until it reaches 100,000 miles, whichever comes first.
It should be noted that this only applies to the first owner of the vehicle and the warranty won’t be passed on to any second hand owners. However, Vauxhall is set to announce details of a further programme enabling secondary owners to purchase the Lifetime Warranty.

The lifetime warranty is valid only for the following 10 components of the car:

1. Engine, transmission and electronic parts of the powertrain, such as the ECU
2. Powertrain, this includes the drive shafts and the differential gears
3. Steering gear, pump, electronic parts of the steering system
4. ABS/ESP system including hydraulic unit, brake booster, main and wheel brake cylinders, vacuum pump and brake proportioning valve
5. The fuel pump, injection pump, electronic parts of the fuel injection systems
6. The exhaust system, including turbo charger including actuator and the electronic parts of the exhaust system
7. The radiator, heater core, thermostat, water pump, radiator for the automatic transmission and cooling fan.
8. Electronic control unit for airbags and for seat-belt tensioners
9. Air-conditioning, including the compressor, evaporator, condenser and the fan
10. The electrical equipment, this includes the electronic control units (excluding navigation); lighting and radar system; generator; starter; electronic parts for the ignition system; ignition wiring; central electric units; instrument cluster unit; board computer; wiper motors; heating ventilator; horn; electronic parts of the window lifters; front/rear window heaters (excluding breakage); electronic parts of the sunroof and the central door locking and the convertible roof.

I know, I know, I said only 10 things, but wow. Vauxhall are covering near enough everything in this warranty.
Wiring harnesses, hoses and connectors are excluded in this warranty as well as service maintenance repairs and wear and tear parts.

About the Author
Ant Bradshaw is currently working for VauxhallQuotes.com which can offer you great information and even better quotes on the latest Vauxhall Deals.

It seems that the owners of Ferrari 458′s are taking burnout’s to a whole new level! The latest Ferrari seems to have a fundamental problem… It keeps catching fire!

Reports have been circulating that the £170k supercar has a serious problem and up to 10 owners have already experienced problems of the vehicle catching on fire!!

On fire!

Another 458 on fire!

A half burnt out 458

The end result...

It is rumoured that Ferrari are aware of the issues and are working hard to find the problem for their owners. For most manufacturers a problem like this could be catastrophic, however with a car like this, I think people will continue to want one and the lucky few that can afford it, will still continue to buy them!

See the video below to see the car in action!

The Vauxhall Insignia Exclusiv 1.8i is a well equipped model with added style, comfort and convenience.

New Insignia engines provide you with power you want, the fuel efficiency you need and the low, Euro 5 emissions we all know and love. There is a choice of 4 petrol engines – the 180 BHP, 1.6i 16v Turbo; a high tech 140 BHP, 1.8i 16v VVT; A 2.0i 16v Turbo with 220 BHP and also a 2.8i V6 24v auto with 260 BHP. All of this may sound like a load of waffle… but, if you’re looking for as much speed as possible on a budget, it would be advised to go for the 1.6 litre model of the Insignia. This has the added bonus of being a turbo engine so will make the car reach higher speeds.

As this article is focussing on the 1.8i engine, I’ll tell you a little more about it. It features a variable intake manifold and variable valve timing (VVT). Now, that may sound like a load of old rubbish so let me explain a little bit about both… firstly the variable intake manifold. The intake manifold is the part of the engine that supplies the mixture of fuel and air to the cylinders. The primary function of the manifold is to evenly distribute this combustion mixture (or just air in a direct injection engine) to each port of the cylinder head(s). Even distribution is very important to optimise the efficiency and performance of the engine.

The variable valve timing, often abbreviated to VVT, allows lift, duration or timing of the intake and/or exhaust valves to be changed while the engine is in operation. This effectively increases thermal efficiency, which in turn creates more fuel from less fuel. Which may sound stupid, but what it means is that you are essentially getting more use out of the fuel for your money.

As with all the new Vauxhall Insignias it comes with Electric Parking Brake (EPB) and Hill Start Assist (HSA). The electric parking brake was designed to boost driver comfort and increase parking security; it features a drive away function, which releases the parking brake allowing you to pull away smoothly. The HSA keeps the brake pressure applied momentarily after you’ve take your foot off the pedal, preventing you from rolling back on a slope if you haven’t first applied the parking brake. Similar to this, there is also a hill hold assist function which again stops the vehicle rolling back when moving off on an incline by making sure there’s sufficient engine torque available. Both come as standard and are a very handy piece of technology to have in the car if you aren’t confident with hill starts.

The Insignia Exclusiv also comes with the following additional features over the standard S model:

• Single – zone electronic climate control
• 17 – inch Structure wheels
• Chrome effect exterior side window surround
• 60/40 split-folding rear seat with load-through facility
• Front centre armrest with storage facility
• Illuminated vanity mirrors
• Front seat back storage pockets
• Rear seat drinks holders
• Centre rear seat head restraint
• Front map reading lights
• Two rear reading lights

Also, at an extra cost, you can get the 18 inch 7 twinspoke alloy wheels for the exclusiv.

About the Author

Ant Bradshaw is working for saveonnewcars.com which has many fantastic new car deals including Vauxhall Insignia Deals.

To be able to add a vanity URL you need over 25 fans. If you have over this amount of fans then…

1. Go to www.facebook.com/username

2. Once the page appears you will see you can change your personal username vanity URL, to change your Facebook pages URL click on the link at the bottom of the page (highlighted in red below)

3. You will now be presented with a drop down box which lists your pages (highlighted in red below)

4. Now select the page that you want to create the Vanity URL for:

5. You will now be presented with a list of different options that you can use for your URL or you can choose your own in the box on the bottom right corner.

6. Press the check availability button. If the choice you have made is unavailable an error message appear underneath the name you have entered. If your choice is available then you will receive the following message

7. IMPORTANT…once you confirm your new vanity URL you will not be able to change it again. Make sure that you are happy with your choice before pressing the confirm button!

You will now have your own Facebook fan page vanity URL!! We have created one for the Visitcars page of: www.facebook.com/visitcars

Feel free to become a fan of our Facebook page, it is regularly updated with motor industry new and videos!

up to 100% Faster!

So why am I blogging about this I hear you ask. Well cast your minds back to the old Auto Trader. It was simple, easy to use and nimble. It defined a new way for searching hundreds of thousands of cars online. Then one day, Autotrader went all out with a new system and complete redesign. This looks very good we all said, until we used it…

There have been so many complaints about the slow performance of autotrader. It just goes to show that responsiveness and speed are a key factor when searching for used cars online. We have always believed in this theory and think that visitcars.co.uk is an elegant, fast and easy way to search for your next car.

Heres to many more years of fast motoring information and classifieds.

Redbull RB6

Williams-Toyota FW31

Virgin Racing VR-01

Mercedes MGP W01

Toro Rosso STR5

Sauber C29

Renault R30

McLaren MP4-25

Ferrari F10

cool blue and web 2.0

We logged on to the website this morning to be greeted with a bright and bold blue and white themed webpage. Surely we are on the wrong website? Well it seems not: everything is there that we are used to seeing. But it couldnt look more different if it tried.

Taking a look at the editorial post about the re-design, we now see what new features it has to offer:

• A new large car comparison panel
• A brighter and more clear pop-up ‘saved searches’ panel
• Major speed improvements (although this is an ongoing effort)

We also noticed clear and bright ‘error messages’ informing the user of what they have done wrong.

Much of the recently improved content pages have been nicely integrated into the websites template. The navigation may seem hard to grasp at first, as for us it doesnt stand out as much as the old one. However it simplifies the website’s sections into smaller lists.

We look forward to testing more of their website, but we have to believe it will be ‘a grower’.

We’d love to hear what you guys think of Autotrader’s website, please add your comments below.